Little Helper Lamp

Introduction: Little Helper Lamp

When I was younger, I read a lot of Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. So I decided to create something from those stories. The most obvious thing to make, was a lamp which looks like Gyro Gearloose's Little Helper.

First I wanted to make it from aluminium tubes but this seemed to be very hard to realise (with my tools and skills). So I remembered this video by Jimmy DiResta, I watched some weeks ago.

It seemed to be worth a try..

Attention: I am not a certified electrician and everything I do is on my own risk. If you want to recreate this, please know what you are doing and be sure, to pay attention to your safety!

Step 1: Materials

You need:

bare wire

two-stranded cable

light bulb

two-component modeling clay

some wood

colors

Duck Tape

switch

plug

Step 2: Creating the Body Out of Wire

I started by trying to create Little Helper's body using wire, which I twisted and connected until I thought it kinda looked like the body.

I took an cable with two strands and put it along one leg, along the upper body up to the beginning of the neck. I attached the cable by winding some of the bare wire around it. To make both legs the same thickness I attached a little piece of the two-stranded wire to the other leg as well.

Step 3: Attaching the "head" (light Bulb)

Now it was time to attach the light bulb. I did not want to use a normal socket, because this would have been way to big in my opinion. So I had to attach the light bulb directly to the cable. I used a lot of Duck Tape, so there was no way that the unisolated parts of the cable touch the bare wire. I did not use the bulb I wanted to use in the end, in case I made mistakes (luckily I didn't).

I won't explain how the cable has to be connected to the lamp in detail, because if you do not know it, you should not try it.

After I attached the bulb, I connected the cable to the switch and the plug and tested if the lamp worked.

Step 4: Sculpting the Body

To sculpt the body I took some two-component mass which normally is used to fix things. I tried my best to sculpt the body as close to the template as I could (it was my first time since I was a little kid).

When attaching the bulb I was not careful enough and it did not touch the contacts after everything dried, so I had to redo this part. But finally also this was finished and I think it already looked alright.

Step 5: Creating the Wooden Base

I had an old broken cutting board laying around which I used, to create the wooden base. I sanded it and created some deepenings where Little Helper's feet should stand with the Dremel. I also made a hole to put the cable through.

Than I put some finish on it to make it look darker (sorry, did not make a picture of the original color).

Step 6: Sanding, Attaching to the Base and Coloring

Now I sanded the body with the Dremel and some sanding paper. Then I used more of thetwo-component mass to glue the feet to the base and put the cable through it's hole.

Afterwards I used modelmaking colors to paint everything.

Step 7: Final Thoughts

When the paint was dry, I took some epoxy to cover the whole thing.

I could have put more time and effort in sculpting the body closer to the original and I cought have thought of a better way to attach the light bulb. But all in all I'm pretty happy how it is, even if for sure it is not perfect.